Bandage
by British Racing Green
Summary: How I think Australia got his Bandage.


_**I don't own Hetalia, nor the rights to any brand that I happen mention (I'm not rich enough to claim that I do).**_

**Bandage**

"_Hey dude!_" America called to Australia as the bespectacled former colony of England noticed the Aussie sitting in a corner of the U.N. bar.

"_What is it, mate?_" Australia asked as America sat next to him.

"_I've always wanted to ask you this so I'll just come out and say it. How did you get that cool band-aid on your nose?_" He said inquisitively.

Australia raised a thick eyebrow and looked America over as if he was trying to sell him religion on the door.

"_Tell ya what, mate. Get me another bevvy and I'll tell you._" He smiled.

America had to process what Australia had said for a split-second before he realised that fuelling him with alcohol would get his question answered.

So, the self-declared hero quickly made his way to the bar and got Australia a bottle of _XXXX_ and himself a _Bud_, before speedily returning to his still warm seat.

"_Crikey mate you don't hang around do ya?_" Australia jumped as his beer was planted on the table in front of him.

"_Now will you tell me how you got that band-aid?_" America said eagerly before taking his first swig.

"_Well now let's see._" Australia sat back and looked into the sky, almost visualising the dreamy fade away sequence.

"_Do you remember World War One?_" Australia asked America.

"'_Corse I do, man._" America replied.

"_Do you remember the Battle of Gallipoli?_" Australia looked straight into America's eyes. "_Oh no, you don't do you. You were still wussing out of it weren't ya._" Australia said almost bitterly.

"_Hey man I came here to ask you a question, not to get insulted._" America responded trying to get off the proverbial back foot.

"_Sorry mate. I forgot myself._" Australia apologised sheepishly, and then carried on.

"_Well, Kiwi and I were advancing up the cliffs on the first day and a shell exploded nearby where we were. It chucked up a load of shrapnel and rocks and one of these rocks hit my nose and took most of the flesh off the middle of it. New Zealand had to stick my face under his uniform and guide me to a medic while trying not to get hit by anything._" Australia said as his right leg began to jig, the emotion and shock of the event from almost a century ago was still enough to trigger a slight reaction in the otherwise hard as nails nation.

America tightly gripped his beer bottle as he listened to Australia's tale, his mouth gaping slightly.

"_I tell you this though, mate. My nose may have been buggered but I could still smell his stinky pits._" Australia joked as he took a calming gulp of beer.

"_But hang on, dude. I've seen pictures of you from the 1920s playing Cricket with England and all you have is an epic scar._" America said, convinced there was more to the story.

"_Well funny you should mention Cricket, because that's how I got the bandage._" Australia said with a slight smile.

"_It was during the third Test of 1932-33 Ashes series at Adelaide and England decided he was going to bowl __really__ short-pitched, fast paced deliveries that would reach me at head height._" Australia spat through gritted teeth.

America didn't understand much of what Australia had just said, but he could tell Oz was pissed off and decided it was best not to say anything.

"_One of these deliveries bounced off the pitch much higher than I expected and I couldn't duck in time._" Australia continued in much the same tone.

"_That rock hard cherry smashed into my nose square on and the seam __tore__ my scar open._" Australia's face had now gone as red as a Cricket ball and was digging his nails into the table. Meanwhile America was starting to regret ever asking.

"_I was lying in a puddle of blood in agony. It felt like I'd been shot in the face by a cannon and the bleeding just wouldn't stop._" Australia paused and took another gulp of beer.

"_All that Pommy bastard did was pick the ball up and walk back to his mark. __I__ on the other hand was leaking blood, in excruciating pain and panicking that the skin of my nose was hanging down like a floppy prick!_"

Australia gave out a huge sigh as he finally finished his rant. He looked over to America who was still looking slightly uncomfortable about sitting next to him.

"_Ah don't worry, mate. It's all in the past now anyway...part from when we play Cricket that is._" Australia smiled.

"_Well thanks for telling me what really happened. I heard England said you got it when this guy whose wallet you stole when you were a kid hit you._" America said.

"_Did he?_" Australia replied deadpan before they both took another swig of beer.

"_So, if you got your band-aid in 1930-whatever, then why do you still have it on now?_" America asked.

"_To keep my nose on._" Australia answered without thinking.

"_I'm not a kid, tell me the truth._" America groaned.

"_OK OK. It's not the same one, I change it every four days or so just for the record._" Australia said making everything crystal clear.

"_I wear a bandage to show the world that I ain't scared of a fight, and to remind myself that no matter what anybody or anything throws at me, I can come out of it with only a nick and nothin' more._" Australia said almost grandly.

America took on board what Australia said, smiledand raised his beer bottle.

"_Cheers, dude._"

"_Cheers, mate._" Australia clinked their bottles together and the pair necked what was left in them.

_**Sorry if I offend any Australians by saying Australia was a thief when he was a child, but I'm English and this is Hetalia so there. I see chibi-Australia as an Artful Dodger type character anyway.**_

_**We all should know about the Battle of Gallipoli, but if you haven't studied it at school I'll explain it.**_

_**The Gallipoli campaign was designed to open up an 'Eastern Front' in Turkey during WW1 and thus draw German and Austria-Hungarian troops away from the Western Front in order to aid their Ottoman allies.**_

_**It was fronted by the British who had: India, Newfoundland and the combined Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), along with the French and the French West Africans. The result was a decisive Ottoman victory, but it is symbolically seen as the making of Australia and New Zealand.**_

_**For those of you who don't know, the Cricket match that Australia is referring to was the watershed moment in what is known as the 'Bodyline' series.**_

_**The England team employed bowling tactics that were designed to severely hinder the Australian batsmen. This was done by bowling a Cricket ball very fast and making it bounce half-way down the pitch, meaning that when the ball reached the batsmen, it was at head height. The Australian batsmen faced either ducking out of the way or defending the ball with his bat. This meant that the ball may come off his bat in such a way that it would go to one of a string of England fielders who would then take an easy catch. The English called this 'Leg-Theory' as most of the fielders were on the batsmen's Leg-Side (the side of the field his back faced).**_

_**This tactic saw Australian batsmen Bert Oldfield suffer a fractured skull after being hit on the head by a delivery from Harold Larwood – though it wasn't from an intentional 'Bodyline' ball and Oldfield later said he was at fault, the image of his injury is one of the defining pictures of the series which saw English-Australian relations severely strained.**_

_**Please review.**_


End file.
